{
  "abstract": "Phase-curve mapping probes various atmospheric properties depending on wavelength: thermal phase curves are dominated by atmospheric emission, while visible and near-infrared phase curves include reflected light. The measured planetary phase curve offset--the longitudinal offset of the hemisphere of peak brightness from the substellar point--is therefore sensitive to differing atmospheric processes in emission-dominated vs. reflection-dominated bands. In particular, planets with partial western-dayside reflective cloud coverage show a westward reflected-light phase-curve offset relative to the thermal wavelengths. In this work, we analyze five sectors of TESS phase curve observations of the hot Jupiter WASP-43b and compare to previous published multi-band analyses to investigate dayside cloud coverage. We measure a mid-eclipse depth of 130 $\\pm$ 34 ppm, indicating excess TESS planetary brightness above expectations based on observed and modeled thermal emission. Attributing this excess flux to reflection, we estimate a low geometric albedo of $A_g$ $\\approx$ 0.05 - 0.10. These findings support previous conclusions that WASP-43b lacks any significant cloud coverage on its dayside. Phase-curve mapping reveals a large eastward phase curve offset of 44 $\\pm$ 18 degrees, significantly eastward of offsets measured at longer wavelengths with JWST, providing evidence for a cloud-free dayside. Both the detection of excess emission in the TESS band and the large measured eastward phase-curve offset support the conclusion that WASP-43b has a hot deep atmosphere that is probed at short wavelengths.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.10719",
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Maura Lally"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ryan C. Challener"
    },
    {
      "name": "Elspeth Lee"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nikole Lewis"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b33wfzd87z0md.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.10719",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "b33wfzd87z0md",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10719",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.EP"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.10719",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-09",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b33wfzd87z0md.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
      "native_id": "2609.10719",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.10719"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.EP",
      "subfield": "planetary"
    }
  ],
  "title": "WASP-43b TESS Phase Curve Mapping: Evidence for a Hot Interior",
  "title_text": "WASP-43b TESS Phase Curve Mapping: Evidence for a Hot Interior",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/b33wfzd87z0md",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}